Announcement - (IMD), Pune

Ministry of Earth Sciences
Announcement
Fifth session of the South Asian Climate Outlook Forum (SASCOF-5),
Capacity Building Workshop and User Forum for Water Sector
Pune, India, 14-25 April 2014
The summer monsoon plays a crucial role in the entire socio-economic fabric of South
Asia, highly influencing all walks of life. The summer monsoon (June–September) rainfall
accounts for 75–90% of the annual rainfall of the most of the countries of the region. Several
studies highlight the critical dependence of crop production on monsoon rainfall. The
summer monsoon rainfall is also important for hydroelectric power generation and meeting
drinking water requirements. Thus, being essentially driven by agricultural growth, the
economies of all South Asian countries are inextricably tied to the performance of the
summer monsoon. Therefore, prior information about the performance of the monsoon over
South Asia will always be helpful for the society in planning risk management strategies.
Although substantial progress has been made in its understanding, prediction in
respect of different aspects of the monsoon, particularly rainfall during the season with
sufficient lead time, has remained a challenge for meteorologists/researchers across the
globe even today. Monsoon prediction and outlook is therefore a shared challenge globally
and particularly for the South Asian nations.
In Asia, such shared knowledge, information and outlook for the entire continent for
the monsoon season have been provided through a Regional Climate Outlook Forum
(RCOF) being coordinated by China since 2005. Considering that Asia is a vast continent
with large differences in the climatological conditions, Regional Association II (Asia) of World
Meteorological Organization (WMO) recommended the establishment of sub-regional
RCOFs devoted to specific needs of groups of countries having similar climatic
characteristics.
In a meeting convened by WMO, the Directors General of the National Meteorological
and Hydrological Services (NMHSs) in South Asia and Permanent Representatives (PRs) of
the respective countries with WMO, at the Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical
Physics (ICTP), Trieste, Italy, on 6 August 2009, the PRs of south Asian nations with the
WMO had unanimously agreed to establish a South Asian Climate Outlook Forum
(SASCOF), to be implemented from 2010 onwards. The main objectives of SASCOF are the
following:
1. To review the progress made in understanding and long range prediction of summer
monsoon both regionally and globally;
2. To make available detailed information on climate variability in South Asia for
dissemination along with the seasonal outlook;
3. To provide a platform for the stakeholders of SASCOF to share and exchange
experience and knowledge on summer monsoon and its prediction;
4. To initiate capacity building/human resource development activities for the South
Asian region, particularly in seasonal prediction;
5. To build collaboration and partnerships among the members of SASCOF for mutual
benefit;
6. To identify needs of user sectors through a dialog among different groups.
The first three meetings of SASCOF were held in Pune, India joining hosted by India
Meteorological Department (IMD), Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM) with the
support of WMO. The first meeting of SASCOF (SASCOF-1) was held in Pune in April, 2010.
The Forum agreed that, to improve the prediction skill of the models, more collaboration
among operational long range forecasters of the South Asia among themselves and
research institutes of the countries of the region are required. The forum also agreed for
active interaction with the concerned global and regional experts. The Forum strongly
recommended the initiation of a capacity building/human resource development plan for the
South Asian nations, particularly for seasonal prediction. Accordingly, from the second
SASCOF onwards, capacity building training workshop for participants from south Asian
countries were became important part of the forum meeting.
The second SASCOF meeting (SASCF-2) was held during 13-15 April, 2011 and the
first training workshop on seasonal prediction was organized during 8-12 April, 2011. The
third SASCOF meeting (SASCF-3) was held during 19-20 April, 2012 and the training
workshop was held during 16-18 April, 2012. The fourth SASCOF meeting (SASCF-4) was
held at Kathmandu, Nepal during 18-19 April, 2013 and the training workshop on seasonal
prediction was held during 15-17 April, 2013.
The fifth session of South Asian Climate Outlook Forum (SASCOF-5) will again be
held at Pune, India be co-hosted by the India Meteorological Department (IMD) through
its National Climate Centre (NCC), and the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM),
from 22 to 23 April 2014. The session will be conducted in English only. SASCOF-5 will be
preceded by a Capacity Building Training Workshop on Seasonal Prediction for the
operational climate experts of the South Asian countries, from 1 4 to 21 April 2014. A
User Forum for Water Sector, being coordinated by International Commission on Irrigation
and Drainage (ICID) shall be held during 23 to 25 April, 2014. These meetings are cosponsored by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), IMD, ICID and IITM.
The training workshop will be held at IMD/NCC at Shivajinagar, Pune 411005, India, ,
while SASCOF-5 and the Climate Services User Forum for the Water Sector in South Asia
will be held at the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM), Pune 411008, India.
The Forum is expected to provide a climate outlook for the 2014 summer monsoon
season. Experts from the SASCOF member countries Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan,
India, Maldives, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, as well as several regional and
global experts will participate. In order to facilitate the dialogue and promote the use of
RCOF products by the climate sensitive user sectors, the Forum will also be attended by
representative section of the user community. The forum includes appraisals of country
perspectives, assessing capacity building needs, global and regional indicators, consensus
outlook generation and user interaction. The participating national climate experts will
receive guidance in using, interpreting and downscaling global seasonal prediction products,
and in developing a consensus outlook.

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